One of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s top prosecutors perceived an “odd moment” between President Trump and Attorney General William Barr during his impeachment victory speech.
Andrew Weissmann, a former Justice Department official who was known as Mueller’s “pit bull” during the Russia investigation, suggested that Barr was out of line for attending the White House event on Thursday. He appeared to reference U.S. Attorney John Durham’s inquiry into the origins of the Russia investigation, which is being overseen by Barr.
“People are going to be concerned about whether they’re allowed to just follow the facts and apply the law. Is there going to be interference?” Weissmann, now an NBC News legal analyst, said on MSNBC.
“There was an odd moment where he kept on sort of looking over in the press conference to the attorney general, as if that’s just somebody who carries out what he wants to do, which is traditionally not what the role of the attorney general is,” he said.
Trump addressed supporters, including his impeachment defense team, Republican lawmakers, and members of his administration, in the East Room one day after the Senate acquitted him of two Ukraine-related articles of impeachment. Barr was in attendance and could be seen clapping and shaking the hand of Jay Sekulow, who led Trump’s impeachment defense team.
Trump lauded his defenders and lashed out at his political rivals, taking several shots at FBI officials who investigated him and his campaign for possible criminal conspiracy with Russia and obstruction of justice, including FBI Director James Comey.
Comey, who was fired by Trump in May 2017, shot back in an opinion piece on Friday, writing that the crowd was “deeply disturbing” during the president’s speech.
Weissmann defended the bureau, which Trump and his allies have accused of being mired in bias, calling the workforce “very apolitical.”
He also knocked Trump for never submitting to an in-person interview during the special counsel investigation and impeachment proceedings.
“There is legal jeopardy that attaches if you sit for an interview or if you say something under oath to federal prosecutors, to the House, to the Senate.” Weissmann said. “So, if you notice, the president is happy to talk today about: ‘Oh, this is evil, and these people are corrupt,’ but, when it came time to put up or shut up — which is, ‘Are you willing to actually say this under oath? Or even in an interview?’ — he’s completely silent.”
“So, to me, one classic way of dealing with this is to say: ‘A lot of your people testified, and they were willing to come in and say something under oath, under the penalty of perjury,” Weissmann said. “Where were you?”
